GOP May Shut Down the Government Over Family Planning, Clean Air

Thu, 04/07/2011 - 10:46am — Miranda

The Hill reports that Democrats and Republicans in Congress have reached an agreement on the amount of money to cut from next year’s federal budget, just before tomorrow’s deadline for avoiding a government shutdown. Great news, right? Not so fast: while Congress has agreed on an amount to cut from the deficit next year, House Republicans are still willing[1] to hold up the budget and shut down the government over funding to Planned Parenthood and clean air programs:

“The numbers are basically there,” Reid said. “But I’m not nearly as optimistic — and that’s an understatement — as I was 11 hours ago. The numbers are extremely close. Our differences are no longer over how much savings we get on government spending.

“The only thing holding up an agreement is an ideology,” Reid told the Senate’s presiding chair. “I’m sorry to say, Mr. President, my friend the Speaker and the Republican leadership have drawn a line in the sand, not dealing with a deficit we know we have to deal with.

“The two main issues holding this matter up are the choice of women, reproductive rights, and clean air,” Reid said. “These matters have no place in a budget bill.”

Any member of Congress who says his or her primary goal is to reduce the deficit and improve the economy should have to explain this. A government shutdown would be disastrous[2] for the economy. It would hurt Americans, and it would almost certainly result in lost jobs. That House Republicans are willing to inflict economic suffering just so they can make a point about contraception and lend a hand to corporate polluters shows just how little they actually care about the deficit or about job creation.